Apparatus for feeding filler tobacco to cigar machines



F. H. B. STELZER Jan. 13, 1942.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FILLER TOBACCO TO CIGAR MACHINES Filed Aug. 24, 1938 Patented Jan. 13, 1942 oNiTE. STTES ATENT OFFICE AFPARATUS FOR FEEDING'FILLER TOBACCO TQ CIGAR IVIACHINES Franz Heinrich Benno Stelzer; Dresden, Germany, assignor, bymesne assignments, to J. C. Muller, N. V., R.otterdam, Netherlands Application August 24, 1938,. Serial No.- 226,457 In Germany September 3, 1937 In general the invention resides in controlling.

the tobacco delivered to the filler forming device from the conveyor according to the amount of tobacco presentin the filler forming device. The invention is applied, in one instance, to a machine in which the conveyorv beltis operated by a pawl and the swinging of this pawl is subject to be interrupted at times when the filler forming device contains an over abundance of to.- bacco.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawing, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the part of the machine to which the invention is applied,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary detail of the conveyor mechanism of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary detail view of part of the automatic control mechanism of Figure 1.

An endless conveyor belt I isentrained over the drive roller 3 and extends to a suitable source of filler tobacco. Tobacco is deposited uponthe upper run of the belt I in the:form.of a fleece or layer 2. The roller 3. is drivingly mounted upon a shaft. 4v which carries at one end. a ratchet wheel 8. A lever 5 is pivoted freely upon. the shaft 4 and. carries atits upper. end a pawl 6 mountedonapin l. The upper endofthe lever 5 is also. attached to. a traction spring 9 which biases it towards the adjustable stop It which is mounted onv the frameof the machine. The lower end of the lever 5 is providedlwith a pin l I which engages in a slot l2 of the arm l3. The opposite end of the arm l3.is-mountedinahollow collar I4, the pin l6 of the arm [3 sliding in the slot ll of. the collar.

whichposition it. is fixed. A spring IB'is fas- Another arm l5 hasits, upper end extending into the collar I4 in.

tened at I9 to the collar l4 and at its opposite end to the pin 16 of the arm I31 This arrangement provides a yielding connection between the two arms [3 and [5. The arm I5 is pivoted at '21 to one branch of' the three armed lever 22' which is pivoted at 23 on the machine and carriesa roller 24 at the end of another branch. The roller 24' is held against the surface of a cam 26' by means of the spring 25. The cam- 26 is fastened. upon the driven shaft 21.; It will be seen that when the shaft 2! is driven to rotate the cam 26 the three armed lever 22 will be given an intermittent swinging motion which will normally have the effect of driving the pawl 6 to rotate the ratchet wheel 8 and the roller 4 toadvance the conveyor I. Theratchet wheel 8 is provided with the pawl to prevent clockwise rotation.

The arm I3 of the conveyor driving means is provided with a stop pin 28-against which the lever 29 is mounted to swing. The-lever 29 is fastened upon the shaft 3| which has also fastened'to. it the lever 30. The lever 30 is pivotally secured to a link 32 which connects it to the upper part of a bell crank lever 33. This bell crank lever-33 is .pivotally mounted at 34 and carries at the outer end of its other arm a roller 35 which is biasedby the spring 36 to ride upon the surface of the cam 31. The cam 31 is drivinglymounted upon the driven shaft 21. Itwill be apparent that a'counterclockwise swinging of the lever 33 will advance the lever 29 against the stop pin 28 of the'arm l3 so that in this position the. arm I3 is held. in its uppermost position and movement of the arm i5 will not be transmitted to the pawl driving mechanism, the

spring l8 yielding to permit sliding in the collar l4.

Tobacco delivered from the top run of the belt I passes through therollers 42 and 43, shown in Figure 2, and thence upon the inclined plate 44 into the chute 45. The roller 42, which is providedwith teeth, is rotated in the direction of the arrow to make the thickness of the tobacco layer 2 of uniformdimension. The roller 43, which is likewise-toothed, is driven in the direction ofthe arrow to break up the forward edge of the tobacco layer 2 as it passes over the delivery point. The tobacco falling through the chute 45 isdelivered over'theiopening 46 of the filler forming channel 47. The opening 46 is guarded by a swinging gate 48 pivoted at 49 andcontrolled by the link 50 which is periodically actuated to swing. thelgate48 to open position to uncover the-opening 4E. Theforming of the tobacco filler is accomplished by the use of the plunger which is reciprocated in the channel 41 by means later to be described. In Figure 1, the plunger 5| is in advanced position. When the plunger 5| is retracted and the gate 48 is lifted tobacco delivered from the chute is deposited in front of the pressing end of the plunger and upon the return movement of the plunger such tobacco i pressed into the opposite end of the channel 41 where it forms a compact filler V. At suitable intervals a knife 53 is operated to sever portions of proper size for indiqidual cigar fillers. I

The plunger 5| is driven by the link which is pivoted at 54 thereto. At 56 the link 55 is pivoted to the end of a bell crank lever 51 which is swingably mounted at 58 upon the machine. The other arm of the bell crank lever carries the roller which is biased against the surface of the cam 6| by means of a spring 59. The cam 6| is drivingly mounted upon the drive shaft 2'! along with the other cams before described. The pivot 56 also connects a slotted bar 62 with the plunger operating mechanism. An arm pivoted at 66 carries at its lower end a pin 64 upon which is mounted a roller 68 (Figure 3). The pin 64 extends through the slot of the bar 62 and reciprocation of the link 55 is accompanied with swinging of the arm 65 in the roller 68. The arm 65 is braked so as to resist free movement by means of a spring pin 61 which frictionally engages against the frame of the machine.

The bell crank lever 33, previously described, has a lateral projection 38 to which is fastened by bolts 39 or the like an arm 40. The free end of the arm 40 is provided with an enlargement the lower surface of which is preferably given a curved shape. The enlargement on the arm 40 is disposed to rest in its raised position upon the roller 68 carried by the arm 65. It will be seen that when the roller 68 is beneath the enlargement on the arm 40 the bell crank lever 33 is held in the solid line position of Figure 1 even though the low part of the cam 31 is presented beneath the roller 35. When, however, the arm 65 and roller 68 assume the position marked 68' the roller 68 passes from beneath the enlargement of the arm 4|! and the lever 33 is then free to assume the dotted line position of Figure 1 when the low part of the cam 31 is presented. Since the movement of the arm 65 and roller 68 is controlled by the link 55 it will be seen that the position of the roller with respect to the arm 4|] depends upon the position of the plunger 5| in the filler forming channel 41. When a small quantity of tobacco is present in the channel 41, as shown in Figure l, the plunger 5| is advanced to the left and the roller 68 will be disposed beneath the enlargement of the arm 40 (Figure 3). In this position the lever 29 will be held in its solid line position and the feeding of tobacco will be uninterrupted. When a greater quantity of tobacco is present in the channel 41 the plunger 5| cannot advance so far and eventually a position will be reached in which the roller 68 is not placed beneath the enlargement of the arm 40. When this occasion arises the lever 33 will be released to swing under the force of the spring 36 to place the lever 29 against the stop pin 28 of the arm I3 and further feeding of the conveyor belt I prevented.

The tobacco feeding mechanism also includes a flap valve 10 pivoted at 1| in the chute 45. This flap is controlled by the arm 12 and link 13 which in turn is pivoted at 14 to the third arm 15 of the three branched lever 22. The feeding action of the pawl 6 is therefore synchronized with the opening and closing of the flap valve ill. The operation of the valve 10 is not however affected by the position of the lever 29.

In the operation of the device the shaft 21 is driven from any suitable source and tobacco is deposited upon the upper run of the belt I. When the shaft 21 is driven counterclockwise, as shown by the arrow in Figure 1, the cam 26 revolves and the high point of the cam strikes the roller 24 once in every revolution to swing the lever 22 in the direction of the arrow. This swinging normally occasions an advance in the ratchet wheel 8 and a corresponding advance of the conveyor belt I. The flap valve 10 is also opened and any accumulated tobacco is dropped through the chute 45. At the same time the cam 6| is being rotated the high part 69 strikes the roller 60 before the flap valve 10 is opened. The plunger 5| is therefore withdrawn from beneath the opening 46. As soon as the pressing edge of the plunger 5| clears the opening 46 the gate 48 is swung to open position by means of a suitably timed cam or other obvious mechanism. The tobacco dropping from the valve 10 therefore falls into the forming channel 41. The flap 10 is only opened for a brief interval due to the small size of the high part of the cam 26 and it is immediately closed again. The gate 48 is then swung closed and the low part 16 of the cam 6| is brought beneath the roller 60. The tension of the spring 59 thereupon forces the plunger 5| to press tobacco into the forming end of the channel 41. Depending then upon the amount of tobacco in the channel 41 the bell crank lever 33 executes its function.

The belt I and the feed mechanism therefor are proportioned to handle a slight excess of tobacco so as to insure at all times that a complete filler is formed. When the tobacco is delivered normally to the belt an excess will accumulate and eventually the plunger 5| will be unable to advance sufiiciently to place the roller 66 beneath the enlargement of the arm 40. When this time arises feeding of the belt is momentarily suspended until the mass of tobacco in the channel 41 is formed, cut off and removed. Thereupon normal feeding is again established without interruption.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A tobacco feeding device comprising a continuous tobacco conveyor, a pawl and ratchet drive for said conveyor, a driven cam, a lever swingably mounted for operation by said cam, an arm connected to be moved with said lever, a second arm connected to said pawl and ratchet drive, a resilient driving connection between said arms whereby to operate said conveyor from said cam, and means for interrupting the feeding of said conveyor including a stop for said second arm.

2. A tobacco feeding device comprising a continuous tobacco conveyor, a pawl and ratchet drive for said conveyor, a driven cam, a lever second arm connected to said pawl and ratchet drive, a resilient driving connection between said arms whereby to operate said conveyor from said cam, filler forming means, and conveyor controlling means operable by the presence of an excess of tobacco in said forming means and including a stop operable to engage said second arm upon the presence of an excess of tobacco in said forming means to interrupt feeding of said conveyor.

3. A tobacco feeding device comprising a continuous tobacco conveyor, pawl and ratchet drive for said conveyor, a driven cam, a lever swingably mounted for operation by said cam, an arm connected to be moved with said lever, a second arm connected to said pawl and ratchet drive, a resilient driving connection between said arms whereby to operate said conveyor from said cam, filler forming means, said forming means including a reciprocable plunger, a conveyor interrupting stop lever for engagement with said second arm, means for operating said interrupting lever to place it in operating position, and coordinating means between said reciprocable plunger and the operating means for said interrupting lever for rendering said operating means operable only upon the presence of an excess of tobacco in said forming means.

4. In a machine of the class described having a tobacco filler forming mechanism including a filler forming channel, and a plunger adapted to reciprocate in said channel; a device for feeding tobacco to said channel, comprising a conveyor, a pawl and ratchet drive for said conveyor, a driven cam, swingable means operatively connected to said cam, an arm connected to said swingable means and movable with the latter, a second arm connected to said pawl and ratchet drive, resilient means operatively connecting both of said arms together whereby said conveyor is operated by said driven cam, and means cooperating with said filler forming mechanism for interrupting movement of said second arm upon the presence of an excess of tobacco in said channel.

5. In a machine of the class described having a tobacco filler forming mechanism including a filler forming channel, and a plunger adapted I to reciprocate in said channel; a device for feeding tobacco to said channel, comprising a conveyor, a pawl and ratchet drive for said conveyor, a driven cam, swingable means operatively connected to said cam, an arm connected to said swingable means and movable with the latter, a second arm connected to said pawl and ratchet drive, resilient means operatively connecting both of said arms in end-to-end relation, whereby said conveyor is operated by said driven cam, means movable into engagement with said second arm to interrupt movement of the latter, and a feeler mechanism cooperating with said plunger for moving said last named means into engagement with said second arm upon the presence of an excess of tobacco in said channel.

6. In a machine of the class described having a tobacco filler forming mechanism including a filler forming channel and a plunger adapted to reciprocate in said channel; a device for feeding tobacco to said channel comprising an endless conveyor, a pawl and ratchet drive for said conveyor, a driven cam, a swingable lever operatively connected to said cam, an arm connected to said swingable lever and movable with the latter, a second arm connected to said pawl and ratchet drive, resilient means operatively connecting both of said arms together whereby said conveyor is operated by said driven cam, an abutment member on said second arm, a pivoted lever adapted to cooperate with said abutment member to interrupt movement of said second arm, a second driven cam coordinated with said first named driven cam, link means adapted to operatively connect said second named driven cam and said pivoted lever, and a cam member on said link means cooperating with said plunger, and operable to disconnect said link means from said second named driven cam upon the presence in said channel of an insufficient quantity of tobacco, whereby said pivoted lever is moved by said second named driven cam to avoid cooperation with said abutment member to permit the feeding of tobacco.

FRANZ HEINRICH BENNO STELZER. 

